Jollibee H1profit jumps 350%, second quarter sales beat prepandemic level

Billionaire Tony Tan Caktiong’s Jollibee Foods Corp. saw profits in the first half fly by more than 350 percent as COVID-19 fears subsided, pushing up second quarter sales past the prepandemic level.

The fast food giant, which also owns Mang Inasal and the CBTL chain of cafes, also weathered cost pressures from rising raw material prices, with margins improving in the second quarter.

From January to June, net income hit P5.1 billion versus P1.12 billion while second quarter profit jumped nearly 186 percent to P2.79 billion.

First half systemwide sales rose 35.4 percent to P133.12 billion while second quarter sales increased nearly 45 percent to P73.15 billion.

“We are pleased with our strong top line growth led by our Philippine business which delivered better-than-expected sales for the second quarter and got back to its prepandemic sales level,” Jollibee CEO Ernesto Tanmantiong said in a statement.

“We are encouraged to see further improvement in dine-in sales while at the same time sustaining growth in our delivery business,” he added.

Tanmantiong said sales in the Philippines, North America, Europe and the Middle East helped drive sales growth while revenues in China were hit by strict pandemic lockdowns.

[O]ur China business saw double-digit decline in sales as our restaurants particularly in Shanghai were closed temporarily for most of the quarter due to heightened Covid-related restrictions,” he said.

“We are very confident about the strong recovery of our China business in the months ahead, faster sales and profit growth of our other businesses abroad and sustained strong growth of our Philippine business,” Tanmantiong added.

Jollibee chief financial officer Richard Shin said margins were protected on “effective pricing actions and operational efficiencies.”

“Gross profit margin climbed to 17.9 percent in the second quarter of 2022,” he said.

This was despite a 2.2- percent increase in certain expenses from “cost pressures on raw materials and higher freight.”

“Total expenses which include General and administrative expenses and advertising and promotions increased at a slower rate compared to total revenue,” Shin said.

Jollibee opened 230 new stores in the first semester. The breakdown was 50 in the Philippines, 38 in China, 16 in North America and 18 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. SuperFoods, CBTL and Milksha opened 47, 52 and 9 stores, respectively.

Meanwhile, Jollibee closed a total of 130 stores during the period: 31 in the Philippines and 99 abroad. At the end of June, it had 6,297 stores worldwide: 3,239 in the Philippines and 3,058 in international markets.